Chinese smartphone giant Oppo showed off its first internal chipset at its annual innovation event in Shenzhen on Tuesday. The announced MariSilicon X chip — named after the Mariana Trench — is a neural processing unit designed to improve the performance of photos and videos through machine learning.
This move adds Oppo to the list of smartphone manufacturers that are designing their own chips, such as Apple. The MariSilicon project led by Qualcomm veteran Jiang Bo only started in 2019.
The chip is manufactured by TSMC's 6-nanometer process technology and will be used in Oppo's upcoming flagship mobile phone in the first quarter of 2022. The continued global chip shortage will not affect the production of MariSilicon X, Jiang Zemin told the media at the event.
Oppo also launched the third generation of self-developed smart glasses, which they call "assisted reality" devices instead of augmented reality devices.
The description is very apt. The helmet weighs only 30 grams and is reminiscent of Google Glass. It uses the Snapdragon 4100 chip commonly used in smart watches, and it is indeed limited to projecting two-dimensional information such as navigation and translation onto its 1.3 mm thick glasses. It can be used as an extension of a smart phone, or like a smart watch with a screen in front of you, rather than an AR device that can perceive the surrounding environment. It is expected to ship next spring.
Oppo's new "assisted reality" glasses. Image source: OPPO
Oppo's new "assisted reality" glasses. Image source: OPPO
The third product launched is Oppo's first foldable phone, which was launched one year after the launch of the concept scroll phone. The details of the folding phone will be announced tomorrow, and we will update the story accordingly.
So far, what we know is that this new phone is led by OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau, who was appointed as Oppo's chief product officer after OnePlus became a sub-brand of Oppo this year.
Both OnePlus and Oppo are owned by BKK Electronics Empire, which shared the supply chain before the merger, but operated independently. The merger allows the two mobile phone manufacturers to merge operations and R&D capabilities, including their operating systems, while the brands remain independent.
Carl Pei, another co-founder of OnePlus, has been hyping up his new earbud business Nothing, which has won the favor of investors and a large number of early followers.
Chinese smartphone giant Oppo ramps up AR promotion